Detroit Lions

Detroit Lions releasing veteran linebacker Trey Flowers

Published Mar. 10, 2022 10:38 p.m. ET

As another day passes, another tenured linebacker is being released by his team.

The Detroit Lions have informed linebacker Trey Flowers that he is being released, clearing more than $10 million in cap space ahead of the opening of free agency on March 16.

For Flowers, it had been a rough tenure with the Lions.

After arriving in 2019 by signing a five-year, $90 million deal with $56 million guaranteed, Flowers played in 15 games in his first season with the franchise, recording 51 total tackles and seven sacks.

Since then, he has only played in 14 of 33 possible games over the last two seasons, struggling to stay on the field.

Even with his three seasons in Detroit being less than ideal, Lions head coach Dan Campbell had nothing but glowing praise for Flowers last week at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.

"Look, I love Trey," Campbell said. "He's everything you're looking for from the intangibles, and he's had a heck of a career. I love everything that he stands for."

Flowers spent his first four seasons in the NFL with the New England Patriots, and with the news of his release, local beat writers have already begun speculating on whether the linebacker could fins his way back to Foxborough.

If it's in New England, or elsewhere, one thing is for certain: Flowers' time in Detroit is over.